U.S. Codex News—Friday, April 5, 2013

Committee on Food Labeling (CCFL):USDA and FDA will convene a public meeting on April 17 from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM to review draft U.S. positions on agenda items that will be considered at the next CCFL session (May 14-17, 2013, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada). The public meeting will take place in Room 107-A of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Ave, SW, Washington, DC 20520. Individuals may also participate via teleconference by calling 1-888-858-2144; Participant Code: 6208658.

Upcoming Facilitated Discussion

Root Causes of Standards Held at Step 8:The European Union and the United States, acting as Co-Chairs, invite members and observers to participate in a facilitated discussion, scheduled in conjunction with the 36th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), on Thursday, July 4, 2013, at the FAO Headquarters, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome, Italy. The session will begin at 2:30 PM. Interested parties may prepare for this session by downloading the following documents at www.codexalimentarius.org:

CX/GP 12/27/3 -- Report and discussion paper of the Electronic Working Group (eWG) on issues related to Standards Held at Step 8, and

REP 12/GP -- Report of the 27th Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles (CCGP), paragraphs 10 - 32.

Individuals who would like to attend the facilitated session, but who are not registered as participants at the CAC session, are still required to register through the FAO security process for access to the CAC session by the May 17, 2013, deadline for CAC registrations. These individuals should send their names, official titles, addresses and photographs to the Codex Secretariat by email ( Codex@fao.org) with a copy to the Co-Chairs ( Codex@ec.europa.eu and USCodex@fsis.usda.gov).

New Working Groups

Committee on Processed Fruits and Vegetables(CCPFV)

Ginseng: CCPFV invites member countries and observer organizations to join an electronic Working Group (eWG) led by the Republic of Korea and co-chaired by Canada, working in English only, to develop the proposed draft Standard for Ginseng Products for comments at Step 3 and consideration at the next session of the Committee. Interested member countries and observer organizations should provide the names, affiliations, email addresses and telephone numbers of their official designated representatives to Jeonghae RHO ( drno@kfri.re.kr) and Kevin Smith ( Kevin.Smith@inspection.gc.ca). Parties in the United States interested in contributing to U.S. participation in the eWG should send their contact information to the U.S. Codex Office ( uscodex@fsis.usda.gov).

Pears, Pineapples and Mangoes: CCPFV invites member countries and observer organizations to join an eWG, led by Cuba, working in English and Spanish, to further elaborate on the Annexes on Pears and Pineapples and on the food additive section of the Annex on Mangoes (in particular colors) for comments at Step 3 and consideration at the next session of the Committee. Interested member countries and observer organizations should provide the names, affiliations, email addresses and telephone numbers of their official designated representatives to Cecilia Aurora Garcia Hernandez ( nc@ncnorma.cu). Parties in the United States who are interested in contributing to U.S. participation in the eWG should send their contact information to the U.S. Codex Office ( uscodex@fsis.usda.gov).

Codex Newsletter:The Codex Secretariat has published a 9th issue of its newsletter, which features articles on the 50th Anniversary of Codex, along with summaries of meetings of Codex committees, including regional committees, since the start of the new Codex Session year in September 2012. The newsletter is available at:ftp://ftp.fao.org/codex/newsletters/Newsletter_09_December2012.pdf